JAL Group Route, Flight Frequency and Fleet Plan FY2009

JAL has confirmed its group's route, flight frequency and fleet plan for international passenger, domestic passenger and cargo operations for fiscal year 2009, the year beginning April 1, 2009 through to March 31, 2010.

International Operations

With the aim of improving profitability, the daily service between Osaka (Kansai) and London (Heathrow) will be suspended, while flight frequency between Tokyo (Narita) and London (Heathrow) will be doubled from 7 to 14 flights per week.

Flight frequency will decrease on three international routes. On the Tokyo – New York route flight frequency will decrease from 14 to 10 flights per week, Tokyo – Bangkok from 21 to 14 flights per week, and Tokyo (Narita) – Seoul (Incheon) from 26 to 25 flights per week.

For added convenience, the number of flights for international passengers wishing to connect via Narita onto Osaka or Sapporo will be increased.

To improve profitability, seat supply on seven routes will be decreased through aircraft downsizing. For example, the smaller, more fuel efficient 777-200ER will replace the 747-400 currently used on the Tokyo – Sydney route.

The airline’s business class seat, the JAL Shell Flat Seat, will be introduced onto four more routes: Milan, Mexico, Rome and Vancouver.

JAL’s very latest seats in first and business class - the JAL Suite and JAL Shell Flat Neo seat respectively - will be introduced on the Chicago and Los Angeles routes, as will the airline’s new Premium Economy service.

JAL Express, which up until now has only operated on Japan domestic routes will also start operating on international routes. The JAL Group subsidiary will operate on 3 routes serving between China and Japan.

Domestic Operations

Through a review of under-performing routes, aircraft renewal and downsizing, the JAL Group aims to improve profitability, and, through increased flight frequency using smaller aircraft, the airline group aims to increase customer convenience. J-AIR operations will be expanded once the lower overhead subsidiary starts using the cutting-edge Embraer 170 regional jet, starting in Feb 2009.

Cargo Operations

After looking at the demand on each route, JAL has made adjustments to its cargo network in terms of routing, flight frequency and the type of aircraft being operated, once again with the aim of securing profitability.

Cargo flights to Manila will be suspended. Through changes to frequency and routings, JAL will start offering five flights a week to both Dalian and Tianjin, increasing the airline’s competitiveness in the northern China region.

The airline is also currently in talks with Nippon Cargo Airlines regarding code share operations in fiscal year 2009.

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